


Against All Odds

by Th3HumanShield



Category: Sword Art Online
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attention given to the side characters, F/M, Gen, Hope y'all like 80's music, No She-rito | Jesus-kun, Slow Burn, They need more love, so many references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 11:23:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14283864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Th3HumanShield/pseuds/Th3HumanShield
Summary: "Darken the city, night is awire; steam in the subway, earth is afire; Do do doo do do doo do do doo do do do do do dooooo...~""Braxton!""Hm?" The music is turned down as he stops singing. "What?"Sinon crosses her arms and stares at him. "Every time we go on a mission you insist on playing that outdated music."He gasps in horror, places a hand to his chest. "Outdated?! How dare you insinuate that about my taste in music!"She rolls her eyes at his melodrama, refusing to continue this conversation instead turning around and continuing to walk into the blasted out wasteland in search of their target, her partner quickly following. "And I told you, use my codename, It's Beowulf!" He yells, completely aware that she's ignoring him.---You think you may know the story, how Kirito entered into the game and teamed up with the sniper Sinon and defeated the murderer Death_Gun and his associates. This isn't that story. This is a story about a group of players, working together to stop the biggest heist in recorded history, and hoping not to get their own asses robbed in the process.





	1. Prologue

**Date: [UNKNOWN]**  
**Location: [UNKNOWN]**

A lone figure sits in a dark room bathed in the harsh dim glow of a monitor. Multiple silhouetted faces without names cover the screen.

“Phase one is ready to initiate.” the clearly augmented voice of one of the silhouettes states.

“Now all we need to do is wait.” a different, possibly female, voice says.

“It's all in the hands of our friend here.”

Even if the figure cant see their faces, they can almost feel them looking at him expectantly. They type out their response. “They won’t know what hit them.”

**December 7, 2025**  
**\- Inside GGO, Wild Field -**

  
A soft breeze blows through the desolate landscape, pushing small wisps of dust along the rocky ground. Even with the sun setting behind the mountains the lingering effects of its blazing heat make the air dry, combined with the dust and sand every breath taken is unpleasant to say the least. But since this is normal, no one seems to notice, as is evident by the group of six sitting in silence at the top of a destroyed skyscraper.

The only sound coming from them being that of a mustachioed man in an old stetson loading bullets into the empty magazine of <<SIG SG550>> assault rifle. Despite his calm outward appearance, his displeasure is clearly evident, and aimed at the only female in the group. A short girl with blue hair and a white scarf.

“He’s late.” While he never mentioned a name, everyone knew who he was talking about.

The girl didn't say anything, choosing to instead raise her scarf to cover her mouth.

“This is the second time, I was willing to overlook it the first time only because he showed up and saved my ass from that bastard who snuck up on me.”

“Calm down Dyne.” The girl didn’t even bother to turn and look at him. “In case you haven't noticed, our targets are late too, which means even if he was here on time he’d just be sitting on his ass like the rest of us.” The girl starts muttering to herself out loud. “Probably playing that damn music he seems to like so much.”

The man, now identified as Dyne, slams the now loaded magazine into his gun with a huff. “That's not the point Sinon, I’m paying you each an equal share because you're both really good at what you do, but if he doesn't even bother to show up then I'm not getting my money’s-worth!” He points a finger at her. “If he doesn't get here before the bullets start flying, he won't be getting another Credit out of me. I don’t care if you two are partners or not.”

Before the two could continue to argue the man on lookout shushes them. “Quiet! They’re here.”

Dyne, tabling the ‘discussion’ for now, goes over to the ledge with the lookout and pulls out a pair of binoculars.

“Finally showing up to the party, eh?” He whispers. Down bellow, just on the horizon, is a group of seven men heading back to the city after a long day of hunting. “Yep, it’s them all right.” He zooms in and starts counting. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 in all… There’s one more than last week, huh?”

The girl, Sinon, lays down by her <<PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II>> sniper rifle and looks through her scope as Dyne starts listing off the weapons their targets are wielding. Sinon isn't paying attention though, her eye landing on the unknown figure in the cloak taking up the rear of the formation. Behinder she heard something about a player named Death Gun but it did not pertain to her job at hand so she ignored it in favor of what Dyne was saying now.

“He’s probably a full STR build courier. He’s carrying all the items they’ve scored, plus ammo and energy packs. We can ignore him during the battle.”

But Sinon didn't think that was a good idea, and she voiced her concerns as such. “I’m getting a bad vibe from that guy. The first one I’d like to go after is the man in the cloak.”

“Why? He’s barely even armed.”

“No reason. I don’t like him because he’s an unknown, that’s all.”

“By the same token, that <<FN Minimi>> is an obvious threat. If he gives you trouble and those blaster move in, it’ll get ugly fast.”

She didn't like it, but he was right. She nods. “Understood. My first target will be the <<FN Minimi>>. If possible, the next bullet will have the cloaked man’s name on it.”

As she turns back to her scope the lookout informs them that their targets are reaching the killbox and that they should move now or else they’ll be spotted as they get into position. Dyne reminds her that he’ll give her the green light once they’re in position before he and the other four run off, leaving Sinon alone. Or so she thought.

“Man, I thought they’d never leave.” A voice rings out to her left, causing her body to jolt in shock.

With cat-like reflexes she turns and pulls out her sidearm, a <<Glock 18C>>, and aims it at where the voice came from, only for her finger to stop just short of pulling the trigger when she sees who it is.

“Good to see you too, Hawk-Eye~” Hands raised in mock surrender.

The voice belongs to a tall male around his early twenties with an athletic build, short yet shaggy black hair and a pair of goggles resting on his forehead. Her eyes trailed down to see that he's wearing his usual combat gear; a light gray button up shirt with the sleeves rolled and a purple bandana tied around his left bicep, worn dark blue jeans, armored pad over the right knee, tactical gloves, and combat boots. Her eyes go back up and land on his purple scarf, a shemagh, she remembers him calling it.

She holsters her sidearm. “I told you to stop calling me that, Braxton.”

He scoffs. “And I thought I told you to call me by my codename.” He sits down with his back against a section of destroyed wall.

“I still don’t understand why we need codenames when our in-game names are already codename enough.” She huffs.

“Because it’s cool, and strikes fear into the hearts of those who hear them!”

She lowers a flat gaze at him. “Who is going to be afraid of two people named ‘Hawk’ and ‘Wolf’?”

“Firstly, its ‘Beowulf’. Secondly, don’t forget our third ~secret~ partner, The Rat.”

“Oh yes, Rat. How terrifying. A few more animals and we’ve got ourselves a zoo.” She deadpans.

“What's got your scarf in a knot today?”

She hesitates. “It’s nothing…”

He gives her one of his rare serious faces. “It’s the man in the cloak, isn't it?”

She seems shocked. “How did you-”

“We may have only known each other for a few months, but I like to think that I know you well enough to say that you think not shooting the big guy is a terrible mistake.” Before she has a chance to react he keeps talking. “And you’re right. My gut is telling me that that guy is a serious threat and he needs to go down first.”

“I don’t…”

“Has my gut ever steered us wrong?”

She doesn't respond, looking through her scope as their targets walk into the red zone. She hears the sounds of a bi-pod being deployed and an ammo belt being loaded into a gun. A quick glance out of the corner of her eye shows that her partner seems to have upgraded since she last saw him this morning. Instead of his usual <<G36>> with a drum-mag he’s now sporting a hefty <<M249 SAW>> with a hard plastic box attached to hold the long belt of bullets.

“That's new.” Is all she says.

“There's an interesting story behind this, but that's for later. Now, you've got a choice to make; follow orders and shoot the known threat, or go with your gut and take out the guy in the cloak. Whatever you choose, you know i'll be behind you 100% of the way.” He flashes her a small smile that calms her nerves and helps her decide what to do.

“Alright Sinon, commence snipping.”

“Roger.” Without another word she takes aim, and fires.

As the bullet seems to fly in slow motion toward its target she thinks back to the day she met this strange individual she calls partner…


	2. Welcome To The Jungle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is much longer and has a lot more originally written content, just in case you were worried about it being another "copy and paste" chapter.
> 
> Enjoy!

**September 14, 2025**  
**\- Inside GGO, SBC Glocken, Underground Dungeon -**

Two sets of footsteps echoed through the spacious halls of the secret facility underneath the main hub. The source of the noise belonging to the ‘Cold-Hearted Sniper’ Sinon and her gray-haired friend Spiegel.

“Are you sure you can trust the info this ‘Rat’ person sold you?” Sinon asked as she gripped her sidearm, keeping her eye out for enemies and traps. “What kind of name is ‘Rat’ anyways?”

“I’m pretty sure it was a nickname, you know like an epithet or something? But anyways, She’s new, but everyone I talked to said that she was the broker to go to, as long as you have the money that is.” Opposed to Sinon’s cautious disposition, Spiegel doesn't even have his weapon drawn, let alone is paying any attention to their surroundings.

“And you’re sure she hasn’t told anyone else? I don’t appreciate the idea of someone sneaking up on us and shooting us in the back.”

He sighs. “She said that costs extra…”

“Wonderful…”

They continued on through the suspiciously empty facility, happy they weren't being attacked every five feet but also concerned because a dungeon like this should have that many enemies but there were none. Her mind instantly thought trap, that someone had come through here recently to lay in wait for their “info broker” to send some sorry suckers down here with dreams of obtaining a rare weapon. The grip she had on the strap of her weapon, a <<French Giat FR F2>>, tightened at the thought. Hoping she was wrong, but also hoping that she was right so she could show them she was not to be messed with.

As if some cosmic deity was listening, her wish was granted, sort of.

As they rounded a corner something slammed into Sinon, knocking her and it to the ground. Spiegel was caught off guard as he fumbled to unholster his weapon, but Sinon beat him to it. Turning the fall into a backroll she steadies herself on one knee before taking aim with her sidearm. Unfortunately, so did the other member of the collision and Sinon sees herself staring down the barrel of a <<Remington 870>>, not something you want fired at your face at point-blank range.

“Nice reflexes.”

Sinon takes a moment to respond, a little thrown off by how calm and friendly he sounds, despite having a gun trained on him. “...thanks.”

The man can't be much older than her, a few years at most. His royal purple eyes staring deep into her indigo ones, like he's trying to see if she’ll try to shoot first. Of course that would be suicide on her part, that shotgun would make quick work of her before she could get enough shots off to kill him. A few more seconds of tense silence before his eyes softened, deeming her not a threat (she didn't know whether to be offended by that or thankful that he wasn't going to kill her). Soon his eyes flicked up to glance at Spiegel, but they held none of the edge they did when looking at her, something that confused her. He wasn't a slouch in a fight, but this mystery man looked at him like one would look at a child.

He looks back at her. “At the risk of your friend attempting to blow my brains out, let me be the mature one.” With that he raised his gun to the ceiling, taking her out of its line of fire. His eyes haven't let her, wondering what she's going to do. It takes a few seconds before she lowers her gun. A glance to her right shows that Spiegel hasn't lowered his yet.

“Spiegel.”

“Sinon, he could be-” She cuts him off.

“Lower your gun.” Her voice is commanding, and he knows not to mess with her when she starts talking like that, so he obeys.

The man stands up rests his gun over his shoulder, looking very relaxed for someone who just had two guns trained on him. “Allow me to break the ice, people call me Beowulf.” He holds his hand out to help her up. “Of course I know who you are.”

She glances at his hand, but doesn't accept it, standing on her own. “You do?”

He lowers his hand, seemingly uncaring that she just rejected his peace offering. “Without a doubt, you're the ‘Cold-Hearted Sniper’, short blue hair, I can see that <<FR F2>> on your back, the very same gun that got you the name.

“You seem to know a lot about her.” Spiegel narrows his eyes I suspicion.

“I make it my business to know players who could prove to be a dangerous enemy-” He smiles at her. “Or a powerful ally.”

“That's smart.” Sinon remarks. “So I can assume you're the one who cleared out all the enemies before we got here?”

“You would be correct, and I can guess you're here for that rare drop?”

“Maybe we are.” Sinon

“Then maybe I need some help with a section up ahead. Would you maybe be interested in helping a fellow player out of a sticky situation?”

Spiegel speaks up before Sinon has a chance to answer. “Why should we?” Crossing his arms in giving him a distrusting stare.

Despite how friendly he was being, Spiegel did have a point. “He’s right, how do we know we can trust you not to stab us in the back after you get what you want?”

He doesn't seem the least bit fazed by the accusation. “I guess you'll just have to take me at my word when I say I won't.”

Part of Sinon wanted to believe him, but the cautious side of her won out in the end. “What is it you need us to do that you can't, you're clearly capable enough to go through this whole place on your own.”

His smile falters a little at this, scratching his neck in embarrassment. “Well…” he pauses, trying to find the right words. “I may have forgotten to buy enough ammo before coming in here.” He tries to laugh it off. Sinon stares him down.

“So when you threatened to shoot me…”

“My gun was dry, yes.” He shuffles his feet like a kid. “Hey! Let's go fight that boss, shall we?” He turns his back to them and heads off, seemingly not realizing he left himself completely vulnerable to being attacked from behind, a fact Spiegel looked ready to exploit.

“What are you doing?” Sinon hisses as she holds his gun down after seeing him about to raise it.

“I don't trust that guy, and I think we’ll be just fine without whatever ‘help’ he thinks he can offer.”

“Think for a minute, if he really did clear this place by himself, I don't believe for a second that he is completely out of ammo, and how you've been acting doesn't fill me confidence that you'll be able to take him on.” Her tone left no room for arguing as she let go of his arm before following Beowulf, Spiegel not far behind, even if he's not happy about it.

They pass by many doors, all leading to rooms that have already been looted by their new ‘friend’ long before they arrived or were locked. Speaking of him, he's waiting by a large door at the end of the hall, flipping through his menu. He doesn't look up as they approach, but he clearly knows they are there.

“Right, so you know how the SBC Glocken use to be a space ship, right?” He pulls up a map of the dungeon and flicks it toward them, showing he's explored everything up to what's behind this door. “Currently we’re on the agriculture deck, and right behind me is the final room before the boss of this deck.”

Spiegel scowls at him. “And what, we’re just supposed to fight whatever's behind this door and the boss while you sit back and do nothing?”

“I'm not defenseless.” As he says this he pulls out a military <<Tomahawk>> from a sheath on his back.

Sinon doesn't look convinced, but before she has a chance to say anything he keeps talking. “And before you get any ideas, only I have the code to get into the boss room, so you're better off just staying with me.” Before either had a chance to argue, he heads into the room, which turned out to be the ships greenhouse, though it resembles more of a jungle due to how overgrown it's become in the years since the ship crashed.

Sinon follows close behind. “You know, I'm starting to get real tired of you ordering us around and assuming we’ll just follow you like you're our boss-” before she had a chance to continue she was cut off by Beowulf pushing her aside and bringing his axe down plant like monster that was about to jump her.

“Remember, we’re in hostile territory right now, stay on guard.” He takes her hand and pulls her to her feet, handing her the gun she dropped.

She doesn't say anything, only nodding. Spiegel starts shooting as more of those plant monsters, <<Ivy>> as she sees they're called, appear from everywhere. As she joins in she notes that they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from dog sized quadrupedal to eerily humanoid bipeds. So far none had any ranged weapons which made them easy pray for both the two with guns and the one without. Speaking of who, seemed to be having a blast as he ran around cutting plants to bits. There was something she noticed though, something she almost didn't catch because of the gunfire.

He was playing music.

(“-jungle, welcome to the jungle, watch it bring you to your shun n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees!” )

He laughs as one dog sized <<Ivy>> gets sliced down the middle and falls to the ground in two, green blood spilling everywhere.

Sinon shouts over the sounds of battle. “What are you doing?!”

“Having fun!” He dodges a series of attacks sent his way.

The number of enemies seems to increase to the point where Beowulf is forced on the defensive, unable to attack. “Now you see why I couldn't-” Ducks and rolls out of the way of a tree being used as a club. “-see why I couldn't get past this on my own!”

“You've got a point, this is ridiculous!” Sinon reloads, pausing to bash an <<Ivy>> away with the butt of her gun. She notices a something large stumble in out of the corner of her eye, something taking aim at them.

“Spiegel” She tried to warn him, but it's too late.

He's too busy trying not to get skewered by branches to notice the rotating barrels before they begin to spit fire, spewing red hot death into his body which soon disappears into a shower of pixels, not even given a chance to scream as he dies.

The room seems to go quiet, the only noise being that if empty bullet casing hitting the ground. That didn't last long as the beast began reving up its <<M134 Minigun>> for another volley of lead. Her feet seemed rooted to the spot, hesitating for just a second and this would prove to be her undoing if not for Beowulf throwing his axe at the creature’s gun, knocking its aim off slightly, and diving into her, sending them both to the ground behind cover.

“You okay?” He doesn't seem to notice the position that they're in, with her back to the ground and him above her. Before she has a chance to even contemplate it, he's up and pulling her to her feet.

“So clearly, we’re a little out gunned. Any ideas?” He's crouched with his back to the large tree they're hiding behind.

She shakes her head to clear her thoughts before glancing around the tree, getting a quick look at their opponent. It's a large humanoid plant, like most of their enemies in this room, only this one seems to be wearing full body armor, covering any of the usual weak points. A glance up reveals that its called <<Deck 2 Security Chief>>, confirming her theory that these were all once crew members.

It starts firing at her, forcing her to duck back behind cover. “It only has one health bar.”

Beowulf took a quick look himself. “By that armor might be a problem.”

“And you lost your axe, so here.” She unholsters her <<Glock 18C>> and holds it out to him. “Take this.”

He looks down at the offered weapon. “You trust me enough to give me your gun?”

She shoves it into his hand, along with some spare ammo. “Right now, I'm more worried about dying than I am you betraying me.”

He counts the ammo he now has and reloads the gun. “You know what, that's fair.” The mini-boss has stopped firing. “So what's the plan, boss?”

She ignore the nickname. “We need to test out its defenses, try and find a weak point. Stick close and keep your distance.”

He nods. “Right, the Adds might have backed off for now but I don't trust our luck to hold.”

She agrees. “Then on the count of three: one...two…” The two tense their muscles, ready. “...THREE!” They dive out of cover and start peppering their enemy with random shots, but they do very minute damage.

“At this rate we’ll be out of ammo before we even make a dent!” Sinon shouts as she takes cover before she gets riddled with holes.

Beowulf is not far behind. “We need to split up, try for his back, there could be a weak point there!”

Before she can respond, the tree they were using as cover gets blown apart by the <<Minigun>>, forcing them to split up. As the <Security Chief>> focuses on Beowulf it turns its back to Sinon, revealing a large glowing heart stuck to its neck, pulsating as it pumps its infected blood throughout its body. She lines up a shot and fires. What neither could anticipate is vines sprouting from its back and deflecting the bullet. With a speed she didn't think it possessed it turned its gun on her and started firing, but she was just barely able to avoid getting shot.

Beowulf joins her in her hiding spot. “You found its weak point?”

“Yeah, whatever changed him into what he is now mutated his heart and stuck it on his neck where there isn't any armor. I tried to shoot it, but we both saw how that turned out.”

He seemed contemplative for a moment. “What we need is something to distract both it and those vines.” He rubs his chin, muttering to himself. “I wonder if they're used for melee is an opponent gets too close…” He snaps his finger, looking over at her with a glint in his eye. “I'll get you your opening. Make the shot count.”

“Wait, what are you-” He winks and runs toward the mini-boss before she has a chance to finish asking.

On the way he grabs his <<Tomahawk>>, where it somehow embedded itself in a tree, before yelling at the creature. “Hey look at me, I'm a target!” True to his theory the vines come out and start deflecting every swing he makes while also trying to turn him into a human shish-kebab. In a display of skill only shown by AGI/DEX build players he jumps and dives between the whirlwind of vines, avoiding most attacks but is still steadily losing health. He won't be able to keep this up forever.

Not wasting the opportunity, and not wanting him to die, she lines up another shot, steadied her breathing, and fires.

The bullet flies true and hits its mark.

Almost the second the heart explodes, so does the rest of the body, spewing green slime everywhere. Beowulf dive rolls out of the splash zone and toward Sinon. He tries to stand on shaky legs before deciding that taking a knee is better.

“Good…shot…” His heavy breathing breaks up his sentence.

“Are you okay?”

His only answer is a weak thumbs up and a half smile.

She opens her inventory and pulls out a <<Med Kit>> before tossing it to him. “Heal up, we don't know when more of them will show up.”

He nods before applying bandages to the multitude of deep cuts that litter his body. “I guess that's what Argo meant when she said I wouldn't be able to ‘Lone Wolf’ my way through this dungeon.”

The name caught her attention. “Argo?”

“Oh right, you probably know her as ‘The Rat’, that new Info Broker.” She filed that information away for later. For now she kept guard as he healed.

“Kinda sucks, ya know?” He asks as he gets to his feet.

“What?”

“Bastard didn't drop any loot.” He dusts off his pants. “Maybe there's a stash somewhere, can't have a pre-dungeon room without pre-dungeon loot.” He starts wandering around, looking for aforementioned loot. Without anything better to do, Sinon follows.

A few minutes of searching and they find it, a door hidden behind a curtain of vines. “Jackpot.” Beowulf whispers as the door opens to reveal a security checkpoint. With an armory stocked and ready to use.

“There's no way our inventories can carry all of this.” Sinon says as she finds ammo for her guns.

“That's why I have this nifty little thing right here.” He pulls up a list on his menu about weapons and their selling price before sorting through the guns, taking the valuable ones and leaving the trash. He also fills his ammo reserves.

After a few minutes of this they leave the room, inventories nearly full of valuable weaponry. “Now all that's left is to fight that boss, claim that final attack bonus, and clear this deck.”

“How do we get to the boss, we searched but the only door that was still functional is the way out.” Sinon asked.

“It's simple, you weren't looking down.” Emphasizes his point when he kicks aside a log to reveal a grate leading into the ships sewage pipes. He kneels down and inputs a code on the holographic display before the bars slide open to the side. “Ladies first.”

“How gentlemanly, send me down into the dangerous unknown first.”

“Don't worry, you can thank me later.” She ignores his smirk and she jumps into the sewer, Beowulf following close behind.

They both turn in their flashlights help illuminate the dimly lit tunnel, with one way blocked entirely by massive roots from the greenhouse above they make their way towards what she hopes is the boss room so that she can get out of here. The walk is long and silent, neither one knowing how to start up a conversation, both of them gripping their weapons in case they're attacked. Thankfully before either could try to break the awkward silence they see a literal light at the end of the tunnel, an opening leading into a large open section of sewer that looks like it belongs under a city rather than inside a crashed spaceship.

They find themselves on a ledge overlooking a pool of old sewer water, of which in the center of it stands their objective; a massive pig-like quadruped with a large tail swinging behind it.

“Can't be much clearer than that, he's the boss.” Neither made a move to get close as it seemed to not notice them yet. Beowulf turns to Sinon. “How do you want to play this?”

“You're asking me?”

“Sure, I came up with the plan to beat the mini-boss, seems only fair you come up with the plan to beat this boss.”

“I wouldn't exactly call what you did a ‘plan’, you used yourself as bait and hoped for the best.”

He smiles. “It worked, didn't it?”

She didn't grace that with a response, instead changing the subject back to the matter at hand. “It hasn't noticed us yet, I think if we stay up here we should be safe from whatever attacks it has while we whittle away at its health.”

“Solid plan, but you'll probably be doing all the shooting. My shotgun doesn't exactly have the range needed for this. I'll stand by the tunnel in case the game has a few more surprises for us.” He pumps his gun before heading over to the mouth of the tunnel, watchfully staring into the blackness beyond.

She turns her attention back to the great beast in front of her before laying on her stomach and deploying her bi-pod. Looking through the scope she scans the creature, trying to find any obvious weak-points. Her options being the bulbous protrusion at the end of the tail, its eyes, or the diamond shaped marking in the center of its forehead. Deciding on going for the headshot would be a good starting point she steadies her breathing before taking aim. On the exhale she gently squeezes the trigger.

On impact she glances at its health-bar, seeing a minute chunk taken out she moves onto to her other targets, repeating the process twice more. Neither seem to do as much damage as the first and any other spot she can get from this angle would barely scratch it. The forehead is its weak-point, as little damage as it did. She calls out to the other player without taking her eyes off of her target.

“Get comfortable, this might take a while…”

What follows was three hours of repetitive shooting, round after round, magazine after magazine. Slowly but surely she would hurt it. Thankfully it didn't seem to have any regenerative capabilities. An hour in and Beowulf grew bored are staring at an empty tunnel and joined her at the ledge, laying on his back as he flips through his menu. He plays music softly, so as to not break her concentration. She notes that his taste seems entirely limited to the 80’s, seemingly not caring that he's a couple decades too late. Eventually, and very luckily, her final bullet does the boss in. With a final roar it explodes into hundreds of glowing pixelated shards, finally dead.

Sinon let's out a tired sigh, resting her head on the stock of her gun, glad that it's over. Beowulf pauses his music and looks over the ledge. “That it? It's dead?”

“Yes...finally…” She stands up.

Beowulf joins her, stretching his back and his sore muscles. “Damn, that took forever.”

Sinon gets a message, she got the last attack bonus. “You're telling me, I did all the shooting.” She opens her menu to see her hard earned prize.

“So what’d you get?” He doesn't seem upset that he didn't even get a chance at the bonus.

To answer his question she pulls the weapon out, having it materialize in front of her before landing in her hands, its weight surprising her, causing her to almost drop it.

“Woah...is that the <<PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II>>...?” Beowulf is dumbfounded as he pulls up his weapon almanac. “It says here that it's worth ¥200,000!”

She notices the hungry look in his eyes and she swears she can see a bit of drool. She holds the gun closer to her chest as if to protect it from a predator. He notices her hesitance to let him see it.

“Right…” He backs off. “Good drop...good drop…you earned it…”

More awkward silence.

“It's a good fit for you. The Cold-Hearted Sniper just got an upgrade.”

“...we should head back to the Glocken.”

He nods. “I gotta report back to Argo, try and scalp her for this map data, info on the boss, etc.”

They start making their way back. It takes time, but they're able to maneuver their way through the winding corridors and up to the surface. The sun's light is harsh, nearly blinding the two after being in the dim light of the underground for so long.

Beowulf uses his hand to shield his eyes. “Come on, her ‘nest’ is this way.” This way being a small alcove hidden in the shadows underneath a bridge.

“Look who's still alive, or did you just respawn~?” Voice calls it from the shadows.

Beowulf only responds by flipping the double bird. The voice laughs as a girl, who the voice belongs to, steps out from the shadows. Sinon looks her over, seemingly unimpressed by ‘The Rat’. She's short, with dirty blonde hair and a brown jumpsuit as her only clothing. The most notable feature being the whiskers tattooed on her cheeks.

“So did you get that ultra rare weapon you were looking for?” Her gaze turns to Sinon, or more aptly, the gun in her hands. “I'll take that as a no then.”

“Yeah…” He scratches his neck. “Doesn't mean I came out empty handed, I raided the floor for all the good loot, and I've got a treasure trove of data to sell too.”

“Awesome, so that'll be the standard rate of-” He cuts her off.

“No no no, double.”

Her eyes go wide. “Double? Are you insane?!” He says nothing. “...20% increase.” Still nothing. “25” Still not budging. “...fine, 30% increase but that's as high as I'll go.”

This seems to please him. “Deal~”

They shake hands and exchange data and Units. “Usually I'm the one screwing players out of their money.”

“You know what they say, turnabout is fair play~”

She gives him a glare before turning her attention back to Sinon. “So who are you? Did Fluffy make a new friend~?”

“Fluffy?”

“I told you to stop calling me that…”

Argo seems to think on this for a moment. “...nope~”

He expected as much. “Yeah yeah…” he pulls up his menu and transfers over half the money from the boss data. He notices her questioning look. “Even split, my code got us in, your shooting took it down. I say that's fair.” He checks the time. “Woah, look at the time, I'm gonna miss dinner. I should bounce. But hey-” he sends her a friend request. “We should do this again sometime, partner~”

He starts walking away. She calls after him. “Who said we were partners?”

He turns around but continues to walk backwards. “I did. Just now.” He turns back. “Catch ya later, Hawk-Eye~!” And with that, he turns a corner and disappears.

She looks down at the friend request and notices that it's from a player named <<Braxton>> “Who's-”

Argo cuts her off. “That's Fluffy’s actual name. For some reason he likes giving people that stupid nickname over his actual player name.” Shrugs before she to walks off. “That one's on the house, any more will cost ya~!” She waves without looking at her. “Catch ya later, Sinon~!” She mimics Braxton’s goodbye before similarly disappearing.

“Wait, how did you-” Sinon is all alone. An unanswered friend request floating in front of her. She takes a long time to think it over before finally deciding. Could prove interesting, at the very least.

She presses accept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had fun writing the greenhouse fight. If you can't tell, music plays a heavy influence on my writing. 
> 
> Please don't hesitate to comment, I'd love to hear feedback.


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